The Unvanquished

The Unvanquished

Introduction

The Unvanquished is a novel written by an American author name William Faulkner. The story of this novel revolves around two differing philosophies known as idealism and pragmatism. The whole novel defines the story of the Sartoris family and the novel was set during the American Civil War. Although, this novel is presented during the American Civil War, but another war of beliefs is carried on the other side in this novel. There is a clear view of the conflicting beliefs between the different characters in the novel presented by the author. This novel includes a very important character named as Bayard (Anderson, 2007). A very significant aspect of this novel is Bayard's decision of not to avenge his father's death. This decision of Bayard is influenced by two differing philosophies that are highlighted very well in this novel by the author. The two works that are close are close to my interest in this novel include the conflicting philosophies of idealism and pragmatism. A brief discussion on these two conflicting, but significant theories is presented as follows.

Discussion

The two significant works in the novel “The Unvanquished” that are close to my interest is idealism and pragmatism. These two philosophies are very close to my interest in the selected novel because these two philosophies shaped up the attitude of Bayard. A great emphasis is shown on the conflicting philosophies of idealism and pragmatism in this novel (Fast, 1997). As these two philosophies are the very close to developing my interest towards this novel, so a brief discussion and arguments on the works of idealism and pragmatism is presented in this paper as follows.

First of all, starting with the meaning of idealism will enable us to continue the argument about idealism and pragmatism in a smooth and effective manner. Idealism is basically a situation in which reality is dependent upon the perception and thinking of the human mind. It is noticed that reality is however the situations or activities that actually take place in an individual's life and these realities are independent of human mind. The extreme situation of idealism involve that the individuals are not ready to accept that there is any real world existing apart from a distinct world that is created in the mind of an individual. In other words, it would not be wrong to say that an idealist simply drifts away from the real world and is happy with the artificial created in his mind.

On the other extreme, idealism involves the activities of individuals that reflect their faith in the real world. But, in this case, the realities taking place in the lives of individuals depend on what the individuals perceive in their mind. So, this work of idealism is very well defined by the author in “The Unvanquished” that makes this piece of reading more interested. If we look at the character of Bayward, we will be able to observe that the character and attitude of Bayward is widely influenced by ...